Hello everyone,
I am doing a science/art project, part of teacher’s college. I am suppose to share a scientific related experience through the expression of art, so I plan to do some graffiti art of the representation. However, I never understood scientifically how this is possible.
For example, during around this time of year, I believe North East to the sun there should be a “star” around sunrise. This star is in fact mercury. I need to explain how this is even possible. I am not a science major, so if some can explain how this is possible please help me out.
In: 2
The other planets reflect sunlight, just as the Moon does. This makes them bright, and a bright object, even if it’s so far away that it’s just a point of light, stands out really well in the sky as long as the Sun isn’t on the same side of the horizon.
Mercury and Venus are closer to the Sun than Earth is, so they are “inner” or “inferior” planets. They will always appear to us to be close to the Sun, so we only really see them just before sunrise or just after sunset. Venus is called the “morning star” or “evening star” for this reason. Whether it is “morning” or “evening” depends on where in its orbit it is; this is the same for Mercury, and you mentioned “around this time of year” but neither Mercury or Venus care what time of year it is on Earth, because their orbits don’t have anything to do with our year.
Mars, Jupiter and Saturn (and Uranus and Neptune, but those are too dim to easily see) are farther from the Sun than Earth, so they are “outer” or “superior” planets. We can sometimes see them “close” to the Sun if their orbits have taken them opposite the Sun as Earth, but normally when we see them we are between them and the Sun so they show up at night.
Latest Answers